Until Next Time
by Stormy - JML Ranch
Summary: I didn't like the way TFP Beast Hunters: Predacons Rising ended, so I wrote my own. Warning: Contains character deaths. Apologies for any OOC.


**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers Prime, only my OCs!**

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Somewhere far away, out in deep space, a ship was weaving its way through an asteroid belt. Several asteroids nearly smashed into the hull, but the pilot managed to avoid them just in time. The asteroid field soon became too dense for the ship to continue.

"Wheeljack, are you sure that you can't go any further?" One of the two passengers asked the mech who was piloting the ship.

"Yea," Wheeljack nodded. "If I keep going any further, she'll get damaged real bad. Sorry about that, guys."

"Understandable," Gunstorm replied, turning to look at the mech standing next to her. "Guess this is where we get off and fly the rest of the way ourselves."

"You are correct," Pressing a button, the taller mech smiled lightly at her. As a door leading to the airlock chamber hissed open, he stepped to one side. "Ladies first."

"Thank you, Optimus," Gunstorm stepped into the chamber. The airlock could only hold one at a time, so the door closed behind her and the lift lowered out of the ship. Before she stepped off the lift, her wings unfolded from her back and the jet engine turned over with a powerful rev. A few minutes passed before Optimus exited the ship.

"There's a plasma storm approaching," Gunstorm warned as they flew away from the ship. "We have to hurry or we won't be able to get the AllSpark."

"Very well," Optimus vented, snapping his battlemask into place. "Maximum Overdrive!"

Pushing their engines to the limit, both Primes raced towards the AllSpark. As they dodged the asteroids, Optimus kept glancing over to Gunstorm. He was glad that he could fly with her, thanks to the upgrades he received. However, he had an inkling that this could be the last time they flew side by side.

"Hey Optimus, I don't know if we'll get there in time," Gunstorm spoke up.

"Go on ahead," Optimus nodded. "I am not accustomed to my new frame yet, and I do not want to crash into one of the asteroids."

"Fair enough," She replied. "But if you crashed into one of the asteroids, you probably would turn it into space dust."

"Are you implying that I am considerably larger than the asteroids?" He raised an optic ridge at her.

"What do you – No! I-I-you…" She trailed off when she saw the joking glint in his optics. Sighing, she shook her helm as he chuckled gently. "Ya got me good on that one. As much fun as the banter was, I best get going if we want to have a good chance of getting the AllSpark before the plasma storm hits. Maximum Hyperdrive!"

She shot forward as if she had been shot from a cannon. The asteroid belt wasn't as dense as she originally thought, pulling off some impressive flying maneuvers with very little effort. A flash of metal caught her attention. She looked at it and realized that it was the AllSpark. However, the plasma storm was approaching very quickly.

Thinking quickly, she deducted that the best course of action was to grab it while circling back. She turned to the right slightly, and then started to turn to the left. Instinct told her when to avoid asteroids without looking at them, completely focused on the precious artifact.

Meanwhile, Optimus had finally caught up and was momentarily confused when he saw her veer to the right. He realized that she was circling when she started to return to her original course. Coming to a stop, he watched as she reached out and grabbed the AllSpark.

Upon grabbing the AllSpark, Gunstorm realized that the plasma storm was very close. Too close for comfort, actually. She banked to the left hard, red-lining her engine. As she pulled away from the storm, she spotted Optimus.

"Get outta here!" she hollered, shifting the AllSpark slightly so she had a better grip on it. Upon hearing the urgency in her voice, Optimus took off without a second thought. He didn't go quite flat out, not yet anyways. He wanted to make sure that Gunstorm made it back to the ship with the AllSpark, even if it meant having to sacrifice his own life.

"What are you doing?" Gunstorm asked when she noticed that she was slightly ahead of Optimus.

"Just go, I will be alright," he replied. Oh, how he wished he could tell her how much she meant to him, but the location and timing was not exactly ideal. Besides, if he told her now, he would be taking the risk that they both would be distracted from the main objective.

His brief reply and the way he had spoken was the last tidbit of information she needed. For the past few months, she had been finding notes and the occasional gift left on her nightstand in her quarters. Besides herself, only two others knew the access code – Ratchet and Optimus. She knew that Ratchet was already in a relationship with Oceania, and that had left Optimus as the only possible candidate for the unsigned notes. When she showed Ratchet one of the gifts, the CMO had asked her if she had any guesses as to who left it, and grinned as she said that she thought it was Optimus. After enduring a day or two of teasing from most of the team, she started to wonder if he wanted to be more than just friends like she did.

"Nope, I do not leave anyone behind," Gunstorm slowed down so that she was flying next to Optimus. "Especially if it's someone I love."

His jet engine suddenly stalled, and Optimus looked at the maroon femme in bewilderment as he restarted his engine with a thunderous roar. He wasn't quite sure if he had heard her correctly, and he didn't want to get his hopes up too high. He did not realize that he was staring at Gunstorm until she started to smile.

"What's the matter?" She chuckled lightly. "Was it something I said?"

"I…" He was grateful that he had his battlemask on because he could feel his faceplates heating up, and she would have seen the blush. "I am not sure if I heard you correctly after you said that you do not leave anyone behind."

"I'm pretty sure you did – OH SCRAP!" Gunstorm flew off, her engine protesting the sudden acceleration. While they were distracted, the plasma storm had caught up and was now nearly on top of them. Muttering both Cybertronian and human curses quietly, Optimus took off after the other Prime. He was glad when he finally saw the ship, and let out a relieved vent when Gunstorm landed on the lift. By the time he reached the ship, the lift was waiting for him.

Meanwhile, back on Cybertron, the Autobots were dealing with Unicron and several groups of Terrorcons. Bumblebee, Robustspeed, Arcee, Smokescreen, and Camouflage were currently on the _Nemesis_ trying to reach the ship.

"Argh, I can't get ahold of them," Bumblebee groaned in frustration.

"Maybe they can hear us, but can't answer?" Camouflage suggested, wrapping her servos around Bumblebee from behind and hugging him.

"That's possible," He sighed, leaning back into Camouflage's hold. Primus, why did this have to be so stressful? Feeling Camouflage's field wash over his with calmness, he relaxed somewhat. He turned his helm to look at the silver-and-black femme, smiling gratefully.

Camouflage was correct – Both Primes and Wheeljack could hear them but was unable to answer. Gunstorm stood at the back of the ship, processing the information she had just heard from the others.

"Gunny? Are you alright?" Optimus looked at her with slight concern, having noticed the grim expression on her faceplates. He leaned against the wall next to her.

"Just worried about the others," Sighing, she leaned back lightly. "They got the odds stacked up against them with the Terrorcons and Unicron there. I just hope we can get there in time."

"I am sure they will be able to hold them off long enough for us to return with the AllSpark," Smiling at her, Optimus rested a hand on her shoulder. She didn't reply, but she relaxed slightly, covering his hand with her own.

"Hey guys, we're here," Wheeljack announced a few cycles later. They were approaching a tower where most of the fight was happening. However, the tower had some anti-aircraft weapons, and they were locked in on the ship. As the ship tried to get closer, the weapons started firing, forcing Wheeljack to take evasive action.

The sudden movement of the ship caught both Primes completely off guard. Optimus had managed to grab the doorframe on his left, keeping himself upright. Realizing that Gunstorm had not found anything to brace against, he caught her servo.

Letting out a small yelp of surprise, Gunstorm felt someone pull her upright, stopping her from falling to the floor. She found herself pinned to a familiar red chassis and knew who it was.

"Frag!" Wheeljack cursed. "Hang on, we're going to have a bumpy landing!"

The ship had taken a critical hit, causing it to start diving towards the ground. It plowed into the ground nose-first, flipping it end over end. Crashing into a small outcropping, the ship came to a rest on its roof.

"Everyone okay?" Optimus shoved some debris off of Gunstorm and himself.

"Other than feeling like I went through a slagging clothes dryer, I'm good… I think," Sitting up, Gunstorm closed her optics to let her sensors recalibrate themselves.

"Could use some help digging myself outta here," Wheeljack struggled to lift a shard of metal off of himself. Optimus managed to get up without looking like an overgrown sparkling, and picked up the metal pining the smaller mech down. Gunstorm stood up, only to find out that her sensors weren't quite completely recalibrated yet. The poor femme landed on her aft without any dignity.

"Well, I sure was graceful, wasn't I?" She remarked dryly, garnering a snigger from Wheeljack and a smile from Optimus. Letting out a vent, she double-checked her sensors. Satisfied that her sensors were calibrated well enough, the femme tried to get up again.

"Whoa!" Teetering backwards momentarily, she succeeded in staying up, albeit shakily. Both mechs watched her with slight concern. "Okay, I'm good. And no, I ain't drunk even though I'm swaying all over the place like one."

"Ya, you sure look like you had some high grade," Wheeljack teased her.

"Hey!"

"Just messin' with ya. I'll be fine by myself, I got a field kit with me. Looks like the others could use some help," Wheeljack noticed a blur fly overhead.

"Very well, Wheeljack," Optimus nodded, having seen the blur as well. "Gunstorm, do you have the AllSpark?"

"In my subspace already," Gunstorm replied. Optimus was about to say something, but she kept speaking. "And no, I am not letting you fight against anyone alone. I ain't gonna change my mind either, so just drop it."

"Alright," Optimus sighed. She had always been very straightforward, not afraid to speak her mind even if others didn't like it. He wished that he could do the same, but the programming the Matrix of Leadership had imposed upon him did not allow him to do so very often. Once, he asked Gunstorm about how she was able to stop the Wisdom Matrix from implanting the very same programming into her systems. It turned out she had just simply flat out told the Matrix that it was basically trying to take away her freedom of expressing her own emotions the way she wished to do so.

They both took off towards where the others were, not knowing what they would find.

"What the - !?" Gunstorm's optics went wide when she saw that the _Nemesis_ was down just beyond the Well of the AllSpark. Most of the team were fighting off some of Unicron's army, and they were pinned down pretty good. She quickly changed her right servo into the Star Saber and sent an arc of energy out.

Both Primes landed on the ground in the middle of the fray with a solid _thump_. They glanced at each other, not saying anything. Time seemed to slow down to a stop as they started to fight the Terrorcons. What seemed like an eternity was just mere seconds.

When the last of the Terrorcons were defeated, Optimus noticed that the fight had separated them from the rest of Team Prime.

"Optimus," Gunstorm murmured quietly. He turned around to see that Unicron was standing at the top of the hill. Realization dawned upon him that they were the only ones between Unicron and the Well. "I never thought the day would come…"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you recall a prophecy about the day chaos would cease forevermore?"

"Yes," Optimus was slightly confused. He had known about the prophecy for a long time, but never could quite figure out who would be affected other than Unicron himself.

"The Star Cannon is the forgotten relic in the prophecy," Gunstorm had a grim expression on her faceplates.

"Primus…" Optics widening in shock, Optimus looked at her.

"You need to leave now before you get caught in the crossfire."

"No, I am staying. I will not let you get hurt."

"Go! Help the others!" Gunstorm glared at Optimus, refusing to let him help her.

"But you'll -" He started to protest, but wisely shut up when her glare intensified. Sighing, he backed up a few steps. "Just… be careful."

"I'll try, but no promises," she smiled lightly at Optimus. He smiled back before taking off into the sky to go help the others. His spark was screaming at him to go back and stay by her side, but he knew better than to go against her wishes. After all, he did not want to be on the receiving end of one of her lectures.

As Gunstorm watched Optimus fly off, she let out a vent. Deep down, she wished that Optimus had stayed with her, but somehow she knew that she had a slim chance of making out of this fight alive. Snapping her battlemask into place, she turned to face Unicron – alone and without any reinforcements nearby. She only had one mission in mind: stop Unicron before he reached the Well of the AllSpark at any cost, even if it meant sacrificing her own life.

"Well, looks like your friends abandoned you. How tragic," Unicron mocked Gunstorm as he approached. "Do you truly think you can defeat the Chaos Bringer?"

"I _know_ I will defeat you, Unicron…" Transforming her left servo into the Star Cannon and her right servo into the Star Saber, Gunstorm replied. Her voice betrayed no fear, only courage and calmness. If anyone else was there, they would have been either very still or shaking like a leaf.

"Your demise has been foretold for hundreds of eons in a prophecy… One that begun the day you came online…" She continued, slowly walking across the field, the Well a few hundred yards behind her. " **On the orn Primus is to be revived, chaos will come. A great battle ensues near the birthplace and the resting place of all Sparks. A shot from a forgotten relic of the Primes, and chaos will cease forevermore, never to come back into being.** "

"No… It cannot be…" Unicron stared at the femme in disbelief. He had ignored the prophecy when he first heard it, thinking that it would never come true. Apparently, fate had other ideas for him.

Scowling, Unicron sent one of his Terrorcon Predacons. The beast roared at Gunstorm, hell-bent on smashing her into the ground. Narrowly diving out of the way of a clawed pede, she fired two shots at the Predacon. It fell to the ground dead once more, sans a head and a chest. Unicron sent three more, same thing happened. On an impulse, he sent _all_ of the Terrorcons at once.

Well… That was the stupidest thing anyone did in all of Cybertronian history.

His fear only grew as he watched his army slowly shrank, the steady thunder of the forgotten relic rolling across the desolate landscape. He knew that the Star Cannon drained energy at a very high rate, and judging on how loud the shots were, she shouldn't be able to defeat all of them. But as the battle went on and on, it soon became apparent that the femme was going to make it after all.

With a final shot and a thump, all of the Terrorcons were finally dead.

"Is that all ya got? Because that was nothing," Gunstorm chuckled darkly, emerging from the dust. She had several gashes on her frame, Energon bleeding from a few of them. Her Gladiator programming was running on full tilt, causing her visor to be a blazing red color instead of maroon or royal blue.

A pissed off Prime was pretty scary, but a pissed off femme Prime with Gladiator programming active? Even the most fearless Cybertronian would run like their aft was on fire, lubricating themselves in the process. Only a fool would stick around, and a complete imbecile would attempt to take her on.

It was the latter category that Unicron belonged in, for he charged towards her without completely realizing the ramifications of his choice. He summoned a spiked ball-and-chain and a javelin, throwing the javelin at the femme. She sidestepped the weapon with ease, then jumped into the air, her wings unfolding from her back and locking into place, and flew right at him.

As Gunstorm approached, Unicron prepared himself to swing the ball-and-chain at her. However, she was moving at supersonic speeds. Unable to react in time, he found himself flat on his back before he registered the punch he had taken to the faceplates. He got back up, shaking his helm to get rid of the remaining disorientation.

Barely managing to block an incoming punch, he hit the femme hard. She took a few steps back from the force of the blow, and ducked under a swing that would have collided with the side of her helm. Seeing an opening, she landed several punches on his midsection, denting the armor.

"You little glitch! You'll pay for that!" Unicron growled, kicking her in the leg and making her lose her balance. He summoned a mace and swung it downwards at her. She rolled out of the way and jumped onto her feet, ready to lunge at him.

She never saw it coming.

As Gunstorm lunged at Unicron, he brought his fist upward, changing it into a sword at the last possible second. The sword hit her right below her Sparkchamber, severing all of the major veins below it. She let out a low cry of surprise and pain as she collapsed to the ground, her visor no longer a blazing red color.

"Ah, such a valiant effort. Yet you fall before me," Unicron laughed at her as he put away his sword. "Looks like the prophecy is not true after all."

"I may be down, but I ain't out yet," Gunstorm gritted her jaw, slowly pushing herself up onto her right foreservo. As she did this, her Star Cannon was fully charged, ready to fire as soon as she had the barrel out.

"You are unable to stop me now; what makes you think you still can?" He grinned sadistically, earning an angry scowl from the Prime.

"Go to hell and shut up!" She spat vehemently, transforming her left foreservo into her cannon.

Optimus and the others had just finished off the last Terrorcon Predacon when everyone heard a resounding gunshot.

"What was that?" Bumblebee asked.

"The Star Cannon," Optimus replied, looking in the direction of the gunshot. He suddenly got a sickening feeling in his tanks.

"Optimus? Are you alright?"

Without a word, Optimus took off.

* * *

Time seemed to slow down as Gunstorm watched Unicron disintegrate completely. She had stood up as she shot him, but was now losing her strength. Unable to remain standing, she collapsed to the ground, landing rather harshly on her side.

"Uhhhh…" Groaning, she rolled over onto her back and took her hat off, keeping it in her grip. Before she lost all of her strength entirely, the maroon femme pulled the AllSpark out of her subspace. The glowing cube floated away from her, and started to descend into the Well. She watched the AllSpark float down gracefully towards its proper home.

She didn't know how long she laid there, but she could care any less. Why? Because she knew that she had succeeded in her mission, and revived Cybertron.

"Gunny!" A frantic voice called.

"Huh…?" Gunstorm whispered as a familiar red-and-blue mech arrived to her side.

"Gunny…" Optimus went down on both knees, picking her up carefully. "I need to get you to Ratchet now."

"There's not enough time," she said sadly. She knew she was dying, and that not even the best medic on Cybertron could save her.

"No…" He choked up, struggling to keep his emotions under control. "Please… don't go… I-I do not know if I can handle it…"

"Orion…" Gunstorm picked up her hat – which was surprisingly still clean – and placed it on Optimus' helm. "I want you to keep my hat…"

"I can't." Optimus shook his helm lightly.

"Please… I want you to keep it…" She didn't have much longer left. "I do not know when, or how… but I know I will be back…"

"Gunny…"

"I'm so sorry Orion…"

"So am I…"

"I know… But I promise that… I will be back… someday…" Gunstorm's visor was slowly turning off. "Until next time… and until all are one…"

"No… Come back…" Optimus whispered, knowing that there was nothing he could do now. A harsh sob of anguish escaped his vocalizer, and he felt like the entire universe came crashing down on him.

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 **A/N: Argh... I just about killed myself with the feels there at the end.**

 **Y'all know what to do... *sniffles* Until next time, this is Stormy transforming and rolling out.**


End file.
